


Sing To Me

by Nerd_of_Camelot



Series: Sing [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ardyn Izunia Being Ardyn Izunia, Ardyn Izunia Redemption, BAMF Noctis Lucis Caelum, BAMF Prompto Argentum, Bahamut (Final Fantasy XV) Being a Jerk, Canon-Typical Violence, Daemons, Deception, False Identity, Fights, Hiding in Plain Sight, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Morally Grey Characters, No Underage Sex, Noctis Knows(tm) When Bad Things Happen, Other, Premonitions, Running Away, Secrets, Sixth Sense, Verstael Besithia Redemption, Young Verstael Besithia, he can just Tell, no beta we die like men, this whole thing is a first draft
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:01:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26126911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nerd_of_Camelot/pseuds/Nerd_of_Camelot
Summary: When everything starts to feel like it’s coming apart at the seams, there’s usually salvation to be found.But although everything is falling apart in order to fall into place, Noctis knows this will not be easy. He's going to have to fight for his salvation―the Six aren't going to just hand it over.
Relationships: Ardyn Izunia & Noctis Lucis Caelum, Clarus Amicitia/Regis Lucis Caelum, Gladiolus Amicitia/Ignis Scientia, Lunafreya Nox Fleuret & Ravus Nox Fleuret & Noctis Lucis Caelum, Prompto Argentum & Noctis Lucis Caelum, Prompto Argentum & Verstael Besithia, Prompto Argentum/Noctis Lucis Caelum, Verstael Besithia/Ardyn Izunia
Series: Sing [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1797865
Comments: 5
Kudos: 33





	Sing To Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there, thanks for reading and welcome to the sequel to _Oh, Raven!_ If you haven't read that one, I suggest doing that first >w> You might be a little lost in this one if you haven't read that one.
> 
> I'll probably have more to say down at the end of this chapter, but I won't keep you waiting with my rambling!
> 
> Enjoy ♡

One week, now, had passed since word had come that a reply letter was coming from Noctis.

That news had, to his dismay, also come mere hours before the news that Fenestala Manor and the village outside had experienced a serious daemon attack and Ignis and Gladiolus (and their glaive handlers) would very much like to stick around to help in the cleanup. He had allowed it, of course―he wouldn’t leave Lunafreya and her people without aid. Not with Noctis’ engagement to her and not with his own affection for her and her mother before her.

Today, Ignis and Gladiolus were scheduled to arrive back at last.

Regis…

Was  _ nervous. _

He could only pray that the letter contained good news―news of his son and Prompto’s health, chiefly, and if he was very lucky, news that his son wasn’t averse to communicating with him more in the future. If he could only  _ speak _ with Noctis, even if it was only very rarely and incredibly formal in tone, there was a chance that they could begin to mend things and, one day, bring Noctis home to protect Lucis. Fulfill the prophecy and all that.

“Your Majesty,” Cor drawled, bringing his attention back to the present, “Gladiolus and Ignis have arrived in Insomnia. They should be on their way to the Citadel now.” His face said there was more that he wished to say, so Regis merely nodded and waited for him to continue. “Have you given thought to what you will do if Noctis has indicated he’s not willing to reconcile?” The raised eyebrows and unimpressed line of his mouth were enough to indicate that he was certain the answer was no.

And he would be right.

Regis sighed, “It is good to know that they’re almost here.” Then, “No, I haven’t. Though there is not much that  _ can _ be done, regardless. I will likely have to continue on as I am until either he brings about the prophecy on his own or something changes.”

Cor frowned, but nodded, as did Clarus.

“And if he’s open to communication?” Prompted Clarus, “How will we deliver letters to him if he won’t reveal his location to us? It’s unlikely he’s staying at Fenestala Manor full-time.”

Regis could only sigh again, “This, I  _ have _ considered, but I’ve few ideas that are likely to work.”

Cor opened his mouth as if to interject or offer his own ideas, only to be interrupted by a sharp knock on the doors of the throne room. At once, Regis sat up straighter and Cor and Clarus assumed their positions.

* * *

Ignis and Gladiolus had scarcely stepped foot out of their car onto the streets of Insomnia before a large group of glaives was descending on them and ushering them up the steps of the Citadel. They went along as they were expected to, silent and obedient, backs straight and heads held high. Ignis held the letter in his hand, ready to be presented to the King when he inevitably asked.

When they finally arrived in the throne room, they found about what they expected―his Majesty the King, Clarus, and Cor, and a collection of various glaives standing watch. The introductions were expectedly short, and then Regis was asking for the letter and Ignis handed it over to Clarus, who handed it to his Majesty.

There was a tense and silent moment as the King opened and read the letter, and then a deep sigh of relief and the faintest hints of a smile on his tired face.

“He has agreed to further communication,” He announced, “His tone indicates that he’s still unhappy, and he will not return to Lucis of his own volition at this point in time, but he will communicate and he says he’s making plans on how to combat the Starscourge.”

“And you're certain he wrote it?”

Regis cast a look at the seemingly unimpressed Cor. “You may have a look at it yourself,” He said, offering it, “But I know my son’s handwriting and I know how he writes when he’s angry with me.”

Cor took it, spent a few moments looking over it, and then nodded. “It does appear to be his handwriting. I notice he forewent the use of his title.”

Regis gave a mild wince that had Ignis and Gladio sharing a glance.

“I imagine that is his way of saying he is still ashamed to be related to me.” His Majesty sighed, looking a little ashamed, himself, before shaking his head, “Regardless.” He turned his attention back to them at last, eyeing them, “How are things in Tenebrae? I am certain Lady Lunafreya can handle herself just fine, but with Noctis there I find myself worried.”

Gladio and Ignis shared another look, and Ignis lifted his chin a bit, “Things are going surprisingly well, your Majesty, especially in the aftermath of such a sudden and nearly devastating attack.” Regis nodded to him, and he continued, “It may assuage your nerves somewhat to know we saw his Highness a handful of times amidst the rebuilding efforts offering his assistance. We were unable to speak to him directly or approach as he swiftly disappeared into the crowds each time and seemed to go unnoticed by most of the staff at the Manor, but it was definitely him.”

“He was there?” Regis blinked, “Well, I suppose it is foolish to think he would not stand at Lunafreya’s side to assist her.”

“Indeed,” Ignis paused a moment, “Strangely, the Chancellor of Niflheim and the Minister for Research were present and assisting as well, primarily with the use of Magitek Troopers. I’d likely have assumed they were merely subordinates of Lord Ravus, were it not for her ladyship’s introduction of them to us.”

“So you have seen two of Niflheim’s top officials in person.” At this, the King leaned back in his throne, nodding thoughtfully, “This could be a boon to us. Is that all, Lord Scientia?”

“Yes, your Majesty.” Ignis said, although there was certainly a great deal more he could say about the current affairs of Tenebrae―he could simply file most of it into his written report, as he was sure Cor and Clarus were expecting of him. “That is all the pertinent information that I have to offer.”

* * *

Sitting in the darkened living room of he and Prompto’s quarters with his knees pulled to his chest, Noctis glowered over them at the coffee table and periodically clenched, then unclenched, his fists. He had scarcely left this room in  _ days, _ not since absorbing the Scourge from Ravus and transforming him back to normal. Aside from a few nighttime runs to the kitchens, he had pretty much stayed put while putting all of the focus he could muster into holding an illusion of his appearance over Prompto as he moved about and helped to rebuild.

He was, after all,  _ far _ less worried about Ignis and Gladio’s handlers accidentally catching sight of  _ him _ than he was of them catching sight of Prompto.

Having received the news that they had begun the return to Lucis last night, Noctis was now simply… Waiting. And he hadn’t constantly had the illusion on him anyway, but it had been frequent enough that not having to do it at all today was… Eh.

Prompto was carrying out most of their duties on his own, because frankly? Noctis legitimately  _ could not go outside. _ Not during the day. Not without intense pain and harsh wafting clouds of Scourge rising off of his skin.

He huffed and straightened himself out, shaking out his arms in annoyance. He had so much  _ energy. _ This was far worse than being sick with a premonition, because he was still fully capable of moving and doing all of his normal routine without any nausea or cold chills, but he just  _ couldn’t. _ Not without either chancing someone finding out that he was infected, or severely injuring himself from being in the light of the sun too long. And there was only so much stretching and working out he could do before he went  _ insane. _

He knew he should tell Luna. He knew he should let her dispel the Scourge from him and give him back the few shreds of normalcy he could scrounge up at the current moment, but… She already had so much going on. She was using her power  _ extensively _ since the attack, dispelling the Scourge from anyone else who had been touched with it and healing all those who were wounded. He didn’t want to throw more or her plate―not when he was handling it alright. He could have her purify him once she’d had a chance to rest.

Still.

Thinking of the Scourge so much, thinking of his own infection, made him understandably very nervous. Thinking of the fact that he was handling it, wasn’t turning into a daemon yet… He didn’t like it. Enough Scourge to turn Ravus in to a  _ Red fucking Giant _ and all he got from taking it all was being injured by sunlight? Something was iffy there, although he supposed it could be that he simply had a higher tolerance for the sickness, or that power was power and his body didn’t really see any difference between Scourge and Magic, or any of a laundry list of other possibilities.

He was, admittedly, also hesitating on asking Luna to purge him of the Scourge for that reason―there was a  _ lot, _ probably more than she’d ever had to purify at once, and it’d put even more of a delay on her returning to her duties to drain her like that.

And then there was the issue of sunlight, again. He couldn’t even go outside, how was he meant to help Prompto with their duties? How was he meant to keep Prompto safe from Ardyn and Verstael?

His mind crawled back to the immediate aftermath of taking the Scourge from Ravus―the searing pain of taking it. The intensity of it all. The way it all flared worse in the sunlight that hit him on his way, the surprisingly dull throb of the pain of landing and the way it disappeared sooner than he expected. Pulling himself up into a sitting position with black streaming down his face, dripping onto his legs as he pulled them up. The way the burning had consumed his whole body, from the tips of his fingers to the tips of his hair and the bottoms of his feet, and had so swiftly become a sensation as familiar as his own heartbeat. The horrifying fear of accidentally passing it to Prompto, how much it ached to move away from him to prevent that.

Prompto’s face flooding with horrified realization as he processed what he’d said.

Prompto all but throwing his jacket over his head and ushering him to his feet, grabbing his shoulders where the cloth covered them for sure. Hauling him off to their quarters while Luna was busy doing the same with Ravus.

He shook the memory away, sighing.

But it had given him one thing―clothing had, so far, helped to keep the pain of sunlight contacting his skin minimal. He may very well just have to keep wearing long sleeves even as the summer rolled in later this year, if he hadn’t sorted it out by then, and he imagined it couldn’t hurt to wear gloves anyway. His hair would keep the sun off of his neck, mostly, and his hat could do the rest of the legwork where that was concerned.

He couldn’t, after all, just hide in here until he felt Luna was rested enough to provide help. He needed to  _ do _ something. And if this was a bust, he could always spend some time hunting daemons outside of town to vent his frustrations and see if  _ maybe _ it really was a matter of his body not seeing a difference between Magic and Scourge so that he could try to expel it through vigorous use of his power.

He stood from the couch, pacing into his bedroom. Grabbed his uniform and went through the motions of pulling it on. Pulled on a pair of gloves and tucked the ends up under the sleeves of his jacket to ensure as little skin exposure as possible. Not even the skin of his wrists was visible, and he could work with that.

He pulled his hat on, then carefully pulled the curtains of his window open, stepping out of the way before he got hit with any of the light.

Took a deep breath and extended his arm into the sunlight streaming in through the window and laughed disbelievingly when the only sensation that came was an odd, but bearable, tingling where the light touched him.

Bolstered, he stepped fully into the light, and the only change was that now that tingling encompassed all of his front.

It was uncomfortable, but it was manageable.

He straightened his back a little, feeling just a  _ bit _ better about this whole ordeal, and turned on his heel to head out to the fields. If he could be in the sunlight, then he could take care of at least  _ some _ of he and Prompto’s duties. And Prompto would be out doing that right now―it was nearly noon, and the chocobos were still his priority even with the rebuilding efforts going on. That lined up well, and as long as he could manage to keep his hat on without any questions along with his gloves he  _ should _ be able to start actually helping out with the rebuilding as well.

Stepping out into the direct sunlight felt exactly the same as standing in the mildly filtered light from the window, and he breathed an internal sigh of relief as he continued on.

* * *

“Still,” Verstael said, barely turning his attention from the machine in front of him, “It is at the very least unexpected that Ravus was completely unharmed.”

“I agree,” Ardyn said, leaning against the desk next to him, “As is the young Prince’s sudden decrease in appearances around the property.”

Verstael hummed, brow furrowing minutely, and Ardyn resisted the urge to reach out and smooth the wrinkle with his thumb. This was not the time, nor the place, for sentimentality. They’d only just arrived back in Gralea, after all, and at last had the freedom to truly discuss the failure of their attack on Fenestala Manor.

Ardyn wouldn’t lie―the failure was rather sore for him.

“I suppose,” His scientist began, slowly, “That it is possible his Highness used too much power keeping the High Commander under wraps until the Oracle managed to purify him―as it is clear that he was purified―and may have been recuperating. You’ve mentioned before that magical exhaustion can leave one bedridden for large spans of time. I can think of few other reasons the prince would have been out of sight while his little stolen MT ran to and fro helping to rebuild. He is, after all, incredibly protective of that jailbroken little thing.”

Frowning, Ardyn nodded a bit. It was a reasonable enough theory―magical exhaustion did, indeed, have a tendency to leave one indisposed for longer than one might believe was necessary. And it would have taken a lot of work and magic in order to keep whatever the High Commander had become in check. Ardyn had made sure of that.

And, of course, Noctis had shown a remarkable level of loyalty to his ‘jailbroken MT’, Prompto, in what little time that Ardyn had known the two of them. A remarkable level of cold calculation and soul-deep protective  _ rage _ where he was concerned, as well―the carefully crafted royal glower and eerie calm he’d given Ardyn when ‘requesting’ that he and Verstael stay very far away from Prompto had been proof enough of that. And the two were very rarely found separated unless it was necessary, so it was unlikely that Noctis would have more or less left Prompto to deal with repairs alone while he only rarely offered any help, himself.

“Yes,” He finally said, “Yes, darling, that would make a great deal of sense. There are few other likely answers.” He frowned again, a thought occurring that he didn’t particularly cherish, “... Although, there are a couple of them.”

Verstael flicked a glance at him, raising a brow in question.

Ardyn averted his own gaze, feeling unsettled for the first time in a very long time. “Well,” He said, “The young prince seems to take very much after me already. It wouldn’t exactly be a stretch if he…” He left the thought hanging, knowing Verstael would understand.

A glance back toward the blonde showed Verstael’s brow had furrowed again, lips pulling down at the edges. He looked troubled, maybe as unsettled as Ardyn was.

“That  _ is _ a possibility.” He agreed, after a moment, “And what will you do if that is the case?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~Man this chapter actually took _forever_ to write, Christ~~ Well, I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter! I'll be working on the second one in my spare time, but I can't guarantee weekly updates or even frequent updates just yet for it since I haven't gotten the outline sorted out quite yet. It should update on Sundays usually, though! And I'll be trying to sort out the outline between my other projects.
> 
> Be sure to let me know what you think!
> 
> Oh, and while I've got you here, if you've got a moment to answer a [quick 5 question poll](https://forms.gle/rLgzjuHPtwbFYXNZ9) about what you'd like to see me write, I'd appreciate the feedback a whole lot!


End file.
